Fifteen years after its release, Above & Beyond’s Group Therapy remains one of the defining albums of modern trance music. Released in 2011, the trio’s second studio album arrived at a pivotal point in their career, capturing a sound built around soaring melodies, deeply personal songwriting and the emotional connection that had already begun to form between Above & Beyond and their fans. Now, Jono Grant, Paavo Siljamäki and Tony McGuinness are celebrating the album’s 15th anniversary by revisiting the stories behind it, announcing a limited-edition picture disc and preparing a new YouTube deep-dive into the record’s creation.
“Group Therapy, our second album as Above & Beyond, is now 15 years old,” the trio shared. “Compiled of 15 tracks, each thoroughly deserving of their place, it marked a new chapter for us, a period of musical exploration that enabled us to truly find our sound.” That sound would ultimately produce some of the most enduring records of their career, including “Sun & Moon,” “Thing Called Love,” “Alchemy” and “You Got To Go”—songs that continue to play an important role in Above & Beyond’s live shows more than a decade later.
The anniversary also offers a chance to look back at the journey that brought Above & Beyond to Group Therapy in the first place. The group’s story began around the turn of the millennium, when Grant and Siljamäki were working together and developing the Anjunabeats label. McGuinness soon joined the partnership, completing the trio. Their profile rose quickly through a series of productions and remixes, including their celebrated remix of Madonna’s “What It Feels Like for a Girl,” which helped introduce Above & Beyond to a much larger international audience.
Throughout the 2000s, Above & Beyond gradually developed an identity that stood apart within trance. Their music could deliver the euphoric moments expected on a dancefloor, but emotion and songwriting increasingly became just as important as the production. Records such as “No One on Earth” with Zoë Johnston and “Alone Tonight” with Richard Bedford demonstrated that direction, while their 2006 debut album, Tri-State, established them as artists capable of building a complete body of work rather than simply producing club singles. At the same time, Anjunabeats was growing into one of electronic music’s most respected labels, and the trio’s Trance Around the World radio show was connecting them with listeners across the globe.
By the time Group Therapy arrived five years after Tri-State, Above & Beyond had the foundation to push that emotional approach even further. The album appeared during a period when electronic dance music was rapidly expanding into the mainstream and festival productions were becoming increasingly massive. Rather than simply chasing the bigger and harder sound dominating many stages, Above & Beyond leaned into melody, vulnerability and songwriting.
“Sun & Moon,” featuring Richard Bedford, became the clearest example. Built around heartbreak and the painful end of a relationship, the song developed into one of the trio’s signature records and one of the defining vocal trance anthems of the 2010s. “Thing Called Love,” also featuring Bedford, delivered another enormous emotional moment, while Zoë Johnston brought her unmistakable voice to tracks including “You Got To Go” and “Love Is Not Enough.” “Alchemy” explored an altogether darker side of love and betrayal, giving the album an emotional range that extended well beyond straightforward dancefloor euphoria.
What listeners heard in 2011 was also the result of considerable patience behind the scenes. Above & Beyond revealed that some of the music had existed long before the finished album, evolving through different versions and vocalists before eventually finding its proper form. “Some of these tracks sat on the shelf for years beforehand, crossing over from one vocalist to another before finally finding their place on the album in their final form,” they explained.
The influence of Group Therapy eventually extended far beyond the album itself. When Above & Beyond ended Trance Around the World with episode 450 in 2012, its successor was named Group Therapy Radio. The title of an album had become the identity of an entire era and, increasingly, a description of the relationship between the trio and their audience. The milestone ABGT broadcasts and events that followed grew into international gatherings, while traditions such as “Push the Button” and the messages displayed across the screens during performances strengthened the sense that an Above & Beyond show was meant to be experienced collectively.
That philosophy continued through later albums including We Are All We Need and Common Ground, while the trio’s ambitious Acoustic projects demonstrated how effectively their songs could survive without the electronic production surrounding them. Reimagined with orchestral arrangements and live instrumentation, songs from throughout their catalog highlighted something that Group Therapy had made particularly clear: underneath the synths and trance builds were songs designed to carry genuine emotional weight.
Above & Beyond are now returning to the album that helped define all of it. Grant, Siljamäki and McGuinness recently sat down together to revisit the period surrounding Group Therapy, with their conversations set to appear in an upcoming YouTube deep-dive. “To celebrate the anniversary, the three of us sat down to do a deep dive into the album, looking back at memories and revisiting the period of time that the album was born out of,” they said.
For collectors, Group Therapy is also being made available for the first time as a limited-edition picture disc, with pre-orders offered through the Anjuna Music Store and selected retailers. But the strongest evidence of the album’s legacy can still be found wherever Above & Beyond perform. Fifteen years later, “Sun & Moon,” “Thing Called Love” and other records from the album continue to bring thousands of voices together.
Group Therapy ultimately became something much bigger than Above & Beyond’s second album. It captured the moment when three producers who had already become leaders in trance discovered exactly what they wanted Above & Beyond to represent. Fifteen years later, the sound has evolved and electronic music has changed dramatically around them, but the connection created during that era remains at the heart of Above & Beyond—and for many fans, the therapy never really ended.
